Defense: Verdict in Baby Doe case a 'travesty'

Justice is served as Michael McCarthy was convicted this morning of killing of two-year-old Bella Bond, offering up no visible reaction as the court rendered their decision.

The disturbing saga began two years ago when an unidentified toddler's partially decomposed body was found in a trash bag off the shoreline of Deer Island in Boston.

A computer-generated image of the child was shared by millions on social media as authorities tried to identify her after her body was found by a woman walking her dog on Deer Island. Millions saw the child's picture, but not a soul could identify the handsome little girl.

Bella's mother, Rachelle Bond, and her then-boyfriend, McCarthy, were arrested in September 2015 after Bond told a friend McCarthy had killed her daughter. This was the confession that blew the case wide open.

Bond struck a plea deal allowing her to escape additional prison time in exchange for her testimony in the trial.

Bond testified that on the night Bella died, she walked into the girl's bedroom and saw McCarthy leaning over her and punching her. "She was a demon, '" she testified. Billboards featuring the little girl's face along with the name "Baby Doe" went up around the city, but neither her mother nor McCarthy ever came forward.

Prosecutors said McCarthy killed the toddler and then put her body in a trash bag and dumped her in the water off south Boston. He noted that Bond, 41, had repeatedly lied about her daughter's whereabouts in the weeks following her death.

McCarthy's lawyer said Bond, who was charged with accessory after the fact, also had a motive to implicate 37-year-old McCarthy, who was her boyfriend at the time and lived with the child and Bond in her Maxwell Street apartment in Dorchester.

According to The Boston Globe, jurors could announce one of four verdicts: not guilty or guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or involuntary manslaughter.

Second-degree murder carries a sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole after 15 years in MA.

Conley said that by the time the tot died, "every adult in Bella's life was distracted from her care and well-being by drug addiction".

Over the course of the trial, 169 pieces of evidence were introduced, and 34 witnesses testified, reports CBS Boston.

The plea deal was met with controversy by the public, and after the verdict on Monday, District Attorney Dan Conley explained why they made the plea deal. "He's insane, '" Deakin said.

"But as I say, the verdict was a travesty of justice", he said.

"She will be held accountable for that", he said.

"She acted reprehensibly. I think we all can agree on that ..." He said there was no physical evidence tying McCarthy to the crime - only Rachelle Bond's "unbelievable" testimony.